I'm Not In Love

Chapter Ten

       I was talking with Amy on the phone ,while Kate sang off key in the bathroom. Sometimes I would  laugh,some times I would yell at her to keep it down. I guess those were the perks that comes with having a roommate.

     " What of Grace, I hope you are treating her well?", I asked. My phone was on speaker. I did that often, putting my phone on speaker while I did other stuffs. This time I was arranging the desk under my bunk bed, I had placed my books properly in a side, the lamp,alarm. Alarms don't work for me,but I put it there anyway.

         "More like she is treating me well, babe. That woman is a super woman,I mean she is suppose to be seventy,but she is still up and running". Amy ranted,and I chuckled.

     "That's Grace alright. But I guess on the inside,she is probably a whole bomb of s**t". I said, putting in the last pen in it's holder. There, all tidied up.

    "Yeah I know. I'm going to talk to her before I leave for Calif". She said and I could feel the sadness in her voice.

    I didn't want her thinking bad stuffs, didn't want to leave her sad,so I quickly changed the topic.

    "Speaking of Calif, Amy,when are you coming, tomorrow, Sunday?",I asked very eagerly , sitting on my cushy,round cushion.

     "Tomorrow!. Grace is helping me pack up." She was so excited

      "That's cool, I can come pick you up at the airport."

       "Yeah,you do that. And you gonna run me down on everything you did with trap...I mean trimix ,you know what I'm saying."

  I chuckled,"I don't think I do"

"I'm giving you the finger, b***h"

I laughed, "never mind,you can have it".

    Kate finished with her karaoke session in the bathroom and strode into the room in her white bathrobe. Cleaning her hair with a towel ,she settled on her dressing chair.

    "So I'll see you tomorrow"

"Yeah. I miss you best goof", I teased.

    "Miss you too ,best b***h"

"I miss you too, unknown friend who is talking with my roommate!", Kate hollered .

     I rolled my eyes and scoffed,"shut up Kate".

   Amy laughed, " See ya ,my friend's roommate that I know but seems to have forgotten me."

     I had to smile, "what is wrong with you people" . I have weird people around me. I cut the call and turned to Kate.

  "Really ,you don't remember Amy ?,"

She had plait her blonde hair into a neat ponytail. And had put on light makeup. If it is not about dressing up,forget it, it's not about Kate. She loved to dress up and after that ,take a snap,or two,or even more.

     She shook her head.

"We went to Disneyland together, remember."

She snapped up immediately,her eyes all widened, "oh yeah, I remember her. Her parent died and we had to cheer her up. How is she doing anyway". She asked and got back to dressing.

     She wore an orange mini skirt,and white top,with orange polka dots.

"She is good,she is coming to our college too. She'll be in Calif tomorrow."

   Kate nodded. She looked pretty,all dolled up.

   "That's cool. Let's go together. Probably do some sightseeing".

"Okay then . Are you done,I'm hungry"

I said, squeezing my stomach,so she would get my point.

     "Just remaining...",she brought out her phone, and took a selfie of herself. Two more.

I groaned, "meet me in the living room",I announced and opened the room. She jumped at me at once and smiled.

    "Let's go".she said

My hands were itching, like I could just whack that smug smile off her face.

I sighed,"fine..let's go".

    I could already smell grilled steaks,pancakes,and some other delicious aroma. I grabbed Kate's hand in a whiff and hurried down the tiled stairs to the very large living room.

   The boys were scattered here and there.

   Daniel and Tunner were on the black couch,playing video game,and making voices at their victory.

   Zak was  helping Ralph set the dining, while he cooked. I guess being waiters at restaurants comes in handy.

      While Stephen,in his humble self,focused on the laptop he was working on. I was surprised. I never knew he had a laptop,or at least he could afford to have one. He was always dressing mildly,and acted broke. He never seemed like one to own a laptop. Even now,he was dressed in khaki shorts,and black polo top. His hair in a messy ruffle,as if he hadn't comb in a week. But I knew he had a part time job, maybe he was paid pretty well.

       Stephen in his plain and odd way however,always seemed to get my attention. Something about his tall,well-built body. His honey brown eyes, his gentleness. These things about him always got me. I never knew why exactly.

      Ralph's meals aroma filled the room even stronger and I couldn't help but moan faintly. I turned to the walk in kitchen and picked a seat by the counter beside Kate.

     "Good morning chef king Ralph ", I said , a big smile on my face and I could feel my dimples deepened.

     "Hey An. How is it going". He greeted, over frying vegetables that has got my mouth watering.

    "Delicious" I replied. He gave me a raised brow, and Kate looked at me as if I had just said the word p***s out loud. " Uh I mean. That looks delicious. By the way I'm good."

   "Oookay." He drawled out." You girls can be something you know, you were in your room for about three hours since dawn, and I heard you were pranking the boys", he pointed out ,still focused on his cooking.

    "Whaaaaaat?... pranking no way". I feigned surprise and scoffed it off.

       He gave me the brow and I continued, "check this out. What do you think. ", I pointed to my pink hair, which was neatly packed in a side-part ponytail.

     His lips parted and turned to a smile," how could I have missed that. It's pretty on you. So this was the result of your three hours"

    He must have been too focused on his cooking to have missed the hair,but I blushed anyway. I needed to post it on my i********:.

      "Kate snap me",I said to her.

"That's what I do best"

     I got in a comfy posture,chins up face devoid of emotions and hands on the counter. Kate took the shots.

   "Lemme see" I gurgled to her and she showed me.

   Even in my big dress shirt, no make up, just a tiny crystal earrings,the picture came out nice. Or was it the iPhone camera?. Anyway I posted it on my i********:, captioned it " New look lovelies. Pink seems natural and charming. It's going to be fall soon and this just fits right.".  Put in lots of love emojis and tagged the right people.

  "Ugh girls", Ralph said .

Kate and I giggled.

  "Trimix following you back yet?", Kate asked.

     I shook my head, " even if they were going to. What has happened won't let them anymore".

  Ralph put in a fried shrimp in my mouth. And the taste was heavenly, I couldn't help but moan.

      "f**k it if they don't follow you back . You're a celeb on your own, An, you've got about two thousands  followers already, watching and liking your posts and videos. It's their loss,won't you say", Ralph said that flawlessly.

    I eyed him over, because he was making sense and it was unusual of him. " Is this Ralph?"

    He laughed and flipped the omelette he was frying at once. He was making a big breakfast for the seven of us. "This is king Ralphael VI"

   Well,he is back.

      "You masturbate uh?.... By the way,this is sick dude", Zak said and I jumped. He touched my hair, but I shooed him off.

  " Don't scare me that way, Zak".

"You know if you really do. It's a free world,girls", he grabbed a cucumber and winked at us.

      I let out a strained scoff,watching him leave to join the boys on the couch.

"He can't really believe that we masturbate, right?", I asked,still looking at him.

     Kate smiled,she was eating a blue berry." Zak is as stupid as that. Let him be. Let's enjoy him fooling himself for a while." She grabbed the cucumber and pop a slice in her mouth.

   I eyed her dubiously and snatched it from her.

She laughed so hard, I couldn't help but laugh too.

      I looked over to Stephen, he was still focused on his laptop,typing with one hand,and his bangs dropping awkwardly on his face. That laptop tough, I could use it for job surfing?. I stood up from the stool and walked over to him on the couch.

" Good morning Stephen", I hollered ,smiling at him.

    His expression changed , he smiled at me and closed his laptop very quickly.

What is he hiding?

"Good morning Anna. Took you guys forever to come out of your room"

     "What is wrong with every one of you. Y'all have been asking 'bout that",I  sighed,and dropped my hands .

He was smiling,"we can't possibly leave our two princesses alone like that. What if there was an alien invasion".

"What?!... Puh-lease. The only invasion here is you guys invading our girl's moments",I replied him,stone-faced

    Then he shrugged,"whatever you say ma'am".

    I chuckled. "Hey,is that laptop yours?", My curiousity finally took over.

    He nodded,"yup", then he tilted his head as if asking why?.

"I mean it's really cool that you own a laptop. Isn't it supposed to be expensive", I asked sheepishly. I had always wanted a laptop of mine. Browsing is really easier on laptop,and saving stuffs too. But it was always expensive for my wallet to buy.

     "Not really. Why you want one?", He asked.

   "Of course, i'ld really love one. But it's only in my imagination, I can't afford one for now. Except I got it as a gift!",I squealed.

   He smiled. I would never know what he was thinking , with the way he was looking at me. "I have been thinking, but I really should say this. Pink really look nice on you. The hair is beautiful"

   It was there again,that feeling he made me feel, and he only said just a compliment. The boys have been complimenting me since but it didn't trigger anything in me,why did it feel different coming from him. I shook it off anyway,I shouldn't be getting ahead of myself.

     "Thank you". I won't surf for job today. Maybe tomorrow or another day. But not today.

Wait, is it the song?

     "Damn, who is playing the song", I asked curiously.

And I saw Kate swaying to the song's tune,I stood up at once "crank up the volume,Kate!"

     And she did.

Trimix latest hit song freedom filled the whole room. And we were singing at the top of our voices. I grabbed Stephen's hands and ignored his protesting eyes. Kate ran to Daniel and the rest of the boys joined in. We knew the whole lyrics in our heads including the beats.

At the end of the day

Some grow up and some fade

Niggas ain't gon' stay,some shits we coulda make

But we know, that the music flows

It's about time we get our..

      Freedom!!!

We screamed aloud dancing and  moving to the song. I held my hands out, it was the rap part, trap's part. I knew this song at heart. The beat rolled and the rap started.

    Trap in yo

From the start, yeah we being apart

But we niggas 'em didn't go down without a fight .

Big things, small things

Big t**s ,small tits

Big roads, small roads, those things we been through.

We leave the dark past,f*****g split the damned mask.

Shed our tears and move out of the shells. It's now or forever...

I was laughing by now and they all whooped. The speaker was so loud and penetrating,that I was sure they could hear it miles away. I always love this moment, trimix would never know but their song always brought us together.

At the end of the day

Some grow up and some fade

Niggas ain't gon' stay,some shits we might have make

But we know, that the music flows

It's about time we get our..

      Freedom!!!

  We sang like that till the music finished. And by now we were all laughing and cheering.

Ralph went back to the dining.

"Okay people, breakfast is served!", He announced. And there was even more cheering,and loud laughter.

    At the corner of my eyes ,I would have sworn that I saw Trap,or at least someone. But he wasn't there, no one was. I looked out the floor-ceiling window,that was overlooking the backyard and the gate.

That was when I saw the big Australian dog jump out of the flower. It was it's free and fearless.

     I gasped.

"Trap has been here.", I whispered faintly.

     "What!", Zak shouted.

And they all gathered to see the fat dog nibbled at his food.

  "So he must have heard our performance. He must have heard us shouting. ", I rambled on.

    "Would he report us, you know for being too loud?. Would he say we were disturbing the neighborhood?. Could it be an offence that we were singing their song.?"

      Someone stopped Kate before she went to far. They pushed us to the dining and sat us down.

   "Listen guys, it can never be an offence that we were singing their song or any song at all,it's a free world you know. And besides this place is real big enough,it probably won't be disturbing any neighbors.", Tunner said.

    "And never mind, trimix won't pick on you guys again while we are here, okay. We are five big boys", Zak commented. And I had the biggest urge to cross the dining and smack him. But I laughed instead.

      "You mean three big boys, you and Ralph don't count, you know?"

"Ouch", he said

  They burst out laughing.

Ralph shrugged,"No small boy would make this big feast, woman"

I gasped very loud enough," eew, don't make feel old , Ralph. I am a lady."

That earned another round of laughter.

He laughed too.

"Alright before we eat let's pray", Ralph announced.

     Right, leave it to Ralph to pray before eating.

It was 10:36am. Some few hours more before I met my supposed crush.